Les verbes réfléchis

Reflexive verbs are actions the subject does to himself or herself. Most reflexive verbs are actions that are part of a daily routine. Here is a list of the reflexive verbs studied in class that you must know:


Les verbes

se baigner = to bathe onself
se brosser = to brush one’s…
se casser = to break one’s...
se coiffer = to do one’s hair
se coucher = to go to bed
se couper = to cut one’s…
se doucher = to shower oneself
s’habiller = to dress onself
s’impatienter = to become impatient
se laver = to wash oneself
se lever = to get oneself up
se maquiller = to put makeup on oneself
se moucher = to blow one's nose
se peigner = to come one's hair
se raser = to shave oneself
se regarder = to look at oneself
se reposer = to relax oneself
se réveiller = to wake oneself up

La conjugaison
To conjugate reflexive verbs, you notice that they are all ER verbs, so they follow the present tense conjugation for regular ER verbs. However, the reflexive pronoun 'se' also changes with each subject.

Je me ---e
Tu te ---es
Il se ---e
Elle se ---e
Nous nous ---ons
Vous vous ---ez
Ils se ---ent
Elles se ---ent

eg. se baigner

Je me baigne
Tu te baignes
Il/Elle/On/Qui se baigne
Nous nous baignons
Vous vous baignez
Ils/Elles se baignent

eg. s’habiller - in front of silent 'h' or a vowel, me/te/se become m'/t'/s'.

Je m’habille (I dress myself)
Tu t’habilles (You dress yourself)
Il/Elle/On/Qui s’habille (He/She/One/Who dresses himself/herself/oneself)
Nous nous habillons (We dress ourselves)
Vous vous habillez (You dress yourselves)
Ils/Elles s'habillent (They dress themselves)

In the negative form, the ne...pas goes around both the verb and the reflexive pronoun.

eg. se laver

Je ne me lave pas
Tu ne te laves pas
Il/Elle/On/Qui ne se lave pas
Nous ne nous lavons pas
Vous ne vous lavez pas
Ils/Elles ne se lavent pas